Baseball Report Week 3: Hokies Stay Hot at Home

Series Win vs Stony Brook (2-1)

Last weekend's home series against the Stony Brook Seawolves was an interesting test for the Hokies. Stony Brook came into the series at 3-5, but with wins on the road against Purdue and top 5 LSU. A stalwart of small-major college baseball, the Seawolves boast two trips to Omaha in the past two decades (2010 and 2012). They're always a well coached, talented team that can make you pay for your mistakes. It may not look like much now, but a series win against Long Island's best may be a decent non-conference resume booster for the Hokies.

Game 1

Just three starts into his college career, and Brett Renfrow is making waves. The true freshman from Northern Virginia pitched a gem of a game on Friday, stifling the Seawolves offense for 6 innings. Renfrow, who has been honing in on the strike zone all season, threw 7 K's, allowed no walks and no runs. In 16.0 innings of work this season, Renfrow has thrown 19 K's to just 3 walks and is allowed less than a hit per 1.1 innings.
 

Defensively, however, Friday was a bad omen for what would plague the Hokies all weekend. Stony Brook was able to score all 3 of its runs unearned after multiple throwing errors in the 7th and a few too many wild pitches in the 8th.

In the end though the Hokie offense proved to be too much for the Seawolves. Chris Cannizzaro, who continues to be one of the hottest hitters in America, went 3-4 with 2 runs and acted as the catalyst all game long.

Unfortunately, the Hokies had their first injury of the season when 1B Garret Michel collided with a baserunner. The injury is being labeled as an "upper body" injury and although nothing serious is expected, the knock did keep Michel out of the Saturday and Sunday's games. Michel had been hitting .400 on the year with 4 homers.

Game 2

Saturday's game was much of the same for the Hokies, who got solid starting pitching to combine with their normal electric offense. Rutgers transfer Wyatt Parliament used his high-movement fastball to attack a Stony Brook lineup that has succeeded this season against off speed pitching. The bullpen did their job as well, allowing just 5 hits in 4.2 innings of work. The issue for the Hokies, again, was throwing errors. Two throwing errors in the 6th led to a run for the Seawolves, and another in the 8th led to a run.

So far, though, the Hokies have been able to mask any mistake with explosive offense. Eddie Micheletti, Jr., Sam Tackett, and Ben Watson all homered for the Blacksburg Bombers, while Cannizzaro stayed hot with a 2-4 day with an RBI triple.

The win clinched Tech's third series win of the season and pushed them above the all-important 75% win percentage make in non-conference play.

Game 3

The defensive issues that had harmed the Hokies in games 1 and 2 came back with a vengeance on Sunday, as the Hokies lost after giving up 4 runs, all unearned.

Sunday starter Griffin Stieg did his job with 5.2 innings of solid work with 5 K's. The bullpen was very good again, as well, allowing just 2 hits in 3.1 innings. But errors, yet again, proved costly. The Hokies had 3 errors on the day and all led to runs for the Seawolves. The recurring issues seems to be put-out attempts on base runners stretching for extra bases and attempted steals. In terms of fielding balls put in play, the Hokies have been as solid as ever.

Offensively, the Hokies hit the ball hard...just right at Stony Brook fielders. A 9th inning rally gave the Hokies hope, scoring 2 runs. But with two men on and one out, a ground ball double play ended it and the Hokies were robbed of back-to-back sweeps.

The loss by no means is indicative of how well the Hokies have been playing. Offensively the team is a powerhouse 1-9 in the order, and the starting pitching has been, somewhat surprisingly, a massive strength. This season, the Hokies weekend rotation of Renfrow-Parliament-Stieg is rocking an impressive 1.33 WHIP with just 9 extra base hits. If that continues, the Hokies will not only fine on the pitching front, but they'd have one of the better weekend rotations in the ACC.

The Week Ahead

The Hokies host Binghamton on Wednesday for a midweek game before welcoming Notre Dame to town for their first ACC series of the season.

Notre Dame (9-2) has been a good offensive team to start the season, averaging 9.8 runs per game. However, the Irish did drop 2 of 4 to Florida International and have played sub-par competition to start the season. The Irish were picked to finish close to the bottom of the ACC by most publications in the preseason, but do have enough offensive talent to make the Hokies pay if they can't clean up the errors. All games will be streamed on ACCNX, starting at 4pm on Friday.